Features

Biteback, November 11

Stephen Kelman: his book is being sent to British prisons for inmates to read (HO)

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has censored a distinguished
speaker who was asked to talk at a discussion on Tuesday about, um, film
censorship.

Geoffrey Robertson, a highly regarded lawyer specialising in human rights, was
invited by the British Film Institute to join a panel debate about film and
media regulation, as part of a season organised by the BFI about banned and
censored films.

The email invitation emphasised how “extremely keen” it was to get him
involved for his “insight”. The Australian-born lawyer was happy to accept.
But soon afterwards another email arrived, saying that owing to “an
unfortunate problem”, the BFI would have to withdraw the invitation after
consulting the BBFC, whose director, David Cooke, was also taking part in
the discussion. The missive, rather cringingly, said it was apologising, but
had to “accommodate the BBFC’s wishes”. Why? Well, Robertson and Cooke have
some previous, dating